The Influence Of Success

Margaret Mead states, “We are taught to celebrate and admire the one who gets the highest grades, the one voted most attractive or most likely to succeed. But while we often rejoice in the success of people far removed from ourselves—we tend to regard the success of people close at hand, within our small group, as a threat.” But is this the case in society? Success is seen as a source of happiness and security, a source of pride. It is thought of as a good thing to be successful. But success can become threatening when your classmates, neighbors, or coworkers are more successful than you. Then your pride is hurt. Though success itself is a good and positive thing, it creates competition that can foster negative interactions. In this society, …show more content…
Or, how many times have your younger siblings been compared to you? Instead of giving them a brotherly pat on the back for doing a good job in school, or getting a raise at work, this comparison created hostile feelings. Also, teachers that grade on the curve constantly put students in direct competition with each other. So instead of congratulating your successful classmates on a job well done, you feel threatened because you are being graded against them. On the other hand, if some stranger in a different school gets an A, why should you care? Sports teams are also a prime example of how success of others nearby can become threatening. Schools have forgotten the meaning of good sportsmanship and have replaced it with a desire to win, fueled by the fear that an opponent’s success might mean that they are better than you. Even youngsters can’t play a friendly soccer game without such worries looming over them. But this time it is the parents who are threatened by the success of the other side. This idea of others’ success being threatening is still present when you leave the soccer field and go back to your neighborhood. Cars, yard appearance, and satellite dishes represent success and create posturing among neighbors, as I have seen in my very own neighborhood. I think that what Mead is trying to say is that we admire other people’s success and accomplishments only when we don’t know those people and if …show more content…
I define success as a person who does not give up even though they are not doing well. They are successful because they are still trying and not giving up. It is true what Mead said about considering a threat people that are successful that are near you because you do not want to feel inferior to people that are said to be successful. No one wants to fail and no one likes to fail. This forces us to have the desire to succeed. We become threatened when we fail and another accomplishes what we cannot. Confusion sets in because many emotions are replaced with fear. We may admire someone for succeeding but we also feel anger and jealousy towards them. With these mixed emotions we cannot praise nor admire those that have succeeded over us. With this, success becomes “a source of